Sutton, London

Not to be confused with London Borough of Sutton.

Sutton
View of Sutton town centre, as seen from the top of the Gibson Road car park
Sutton  Sutton shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ255645
- Charing Cross	10.6 mi (17.1 km)  NNE
London borough	Sutton
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SUTTON
Postcode district	SM1, SM2 & SM3
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Sutton and Cheam
London Assembly	Croydon and Sutton
List of places: UK • England • London

Sutton is a large, suburban town in southwest London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Sutton. It is located 10.6 miles (17.1 km) south-southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. The town was connected to central London by rail in 1847. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century, Sutton significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough with neighbouring Cheam in 1934, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. It now forms a significant civic and retail district.

History

Toponymy

Sutton (parish) population

1881	10,334
1891	13,977
1901	17,223
1911	21,270
1921	21,063
1931	27,989
Absorbed by Sutton and Cheam parish ►
source: UK census

The placename Sutton is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Sudtone. It is formed from Old English 'sūth' and 'tūn', meaning 'the south farm'. It was probably in relation to Mitcham and Morden that it was considered southerly. The name was later applied to Sutton Common and the Sutton New Town development in the 19th century, and to the London Borough of Sutton created in 1965.

Pre 1700

Archaeological finds in the region date back over ten thousand years, but the first substantial evidence of habitation comes from the excavation of a Roman villa in Beddington. The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the northern boundary of the parish of Sutton. The course of Stane Street through the area is now followed by the modern roads Stonecot Hill and London Road, and designated A24 on road maps.

William The Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086 assesses Sudtone:

In the time of King Edward it was assessed at 30 hides; now at 8½ hides. There are 2 carucates in the demesne, and 29 villains and 4 cottars with 13 carucates. There are 2 churches, and 2 bondmen, and 2 acres (8,100 m²) of meadow. The wood yields 10 swine. In the time of King Edward it was valued at 20 pounds, now at 15 pounds.

The Domesday Book also states that the Abbot of Chertsey held the Manor. This remained so until 1538 when the Manor was sold to King Henry VIII, along with the manors of Ebisham (Epsom), Coulsdon, and Horley. They were all then granted to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in that same year. When Sir Nicholas was sentenced to death for treason, the King seized the manors, and they remained possessions of the Crown until King Edward VI granted part of them to Thomas, Lord of D'Arcy of Cliché, but kept the Manors of Sutton, Ebisham and Coulsdon.^{[citation needed]} Queen Mary later restored the whole of these manors to Francis, only son of Sir Nicholas Carew. At a later date, and for unknown reasons, the Manor once more became possession of the Crown until King Charles II granted it to the Duke of Portland in 1663, who sold it in 1669 to Sir Robert Long, who sold it that same year to Sir Richard Mason. The Manor has regularly changed hands since.

Carew Manor today

Post 1700

High Street, Sutton, Xmas Show Week 1910

In 1755, a turnpike road from London to Brighton was constructed, intersecting with a turnpike road from Carshalton to Ewell which was constructed at the same time. The toll bars for Cheam Road and Brighton Road were originally located at right angles to each other by the Cock Hotel, an inn that sat on the south-east corner of the intersection of the turnpikes. The toll bar for Carshalton Road was where the police station is now, though the existence of this toll bar is disputed. All three of these toll bars moved further away from the intersection after a number of years to account for the growth in Sutton's size. The northmost toll bar was situated where Rosehill is now. The toll bars remained in effect until 1882.

Sutton railway station was opened on May 10, 1847. Likely due to the new, fast link to central London, Sutton's population more than doubled between 1851 and 1861. New housing to accommodate this growth was constructed in the Lind Road area, and called the "New Town". Today, a pub on the corner of Lind Road and Greyhound Road is named The New Town. Sutton Water Company was incorporated in 1863, and the provision of water mains finally allowed houses to be built outside of the area defined by the water-yielding Thanet Sands. The Lord of the Manor at the time, Mr Alcock, sold land that was previously unsuitable for residential buildings, making it available for new construction. Sutton's population more than doubled between 1861 and 1871.

During the Second World War, few places were bombed. However, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 187 civilian casualties for Sutton and Cheam. In 1959 a local resident George Alcock started a campaign to preserve a unique avenue of Copper Beech trees. This led the same year to the formation of the Sutton & Cheam Society of which he was secretary for many years. A plaque commemorating his life is situated on the corner of Christchurch Park with Brighton Road. In 1945 the Sutton and Cheam constituency was constituted.

Local government

Sutton formed an ancient parish in the Wallington hundred of Surrey. It came within the area of the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. The parish authorities lost control of poor relief in 1834 when the parish was grouped into Epsom Poor Law Union. This led to the parish forming part of the Epsom Rural Sanitary District from 1875. The parish of Sutton adopted the Local Government Act 1858 in 1882 and a local board was formed to govern the area, which was constituted a local government district. The Local Government Act 1894 reformed it as Sutton Urban District, governed by an urban district council. In 1928 the area of the urban district was expanded, by the addition of the parish of Cheam. The urban district was renamed to Sutton and Cheam to reflect this. The urban district council successfully petitioned for a charter of incorporation and the town became a municipal borough in 1934. Having only nominal existence within a municipal borough, the civil parishes were merged in 1949. The municipal borough was abolished in 1965 and its former area became part of the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London.

Geography

Market stalls set outside ASDA (large building on right) at the bottom end of the high street.

Sutton is one of several towns located on a narrow bed of Thanet sands which extends from Croydon in the east, to Epsom in the west. To the south of this belt is chalk of the North Downs, and to the north is clay. The belt of Thanet sands allowed wells to provide clean water, whereas the clay to the north mostly offered surface water of unsuitable quality. This feature attracted settlements to the sand belt from a very early date.

The Aspects apartment block can be seen across Sutton, as can the Docklands-style Lamborne apartment building. In Sutton town centre, there are three main churches which are the Sutton Baptist Church, Trinity Church and St. Nicholas Church, as well as a Salvation Army in Benhill Avenue.

There are also two areas of green space in the town centre: one called Manor Park, which is situated opposite the modern Police Station; and the other simply called Sutton Green, located at the lower end of the high street relatively near Sutton Bus garage. Just to the north of central Sutton there is more extensive green space in the form of Sutton Common, which also houses a major junior tennis facility.

Sutton Library sits near the top of the town next to the Civic Offices, home of Sutton Council. There is a cinema opposite the St. Nicholas Centre and a theatre in Cheam Road adjacent to the large Holiday Inn hotel. The town centre is given some artistic distinction through its two building-height wall mosaics and its "Millenium Dial" near the Waterstones bookseller.

Economy

Sutton benefits from very low crime by London standards, and the presence of several large businesses such as Reed Business Publishing, who have major office space in the town. There are good public transport links through buses and trains, and a one-way system around the High Street as well as three car parks.

Retailing has long been a major part of the Sutton economy, with the Victorian-era High Street now estabished for well over 100 years. In more recent years, the town has gained two covered shopping centres, both of which are right in the High Street area. The larger of these is the St. Nicholas Centre with three main levels and five levels for Debenhams. Times Square is the smaller of the two.

Sutton High Street starts just north of Marshall's Road and extends to the station, just beyond the junction with Grove Road. The central area is pedestrianised during shopping hours, facilitating the setting up of outdoor tables by several coffee bars. Sutton nightlife is vibrant and, as well as restaurants, includes a number of pubs, clubs and bars. Supermarket stores Asda and Morrisons are located at either end of the High Street; in addition, plans have been reported (SuttonGuardian.co.uk, 27/02/12) for a third major supermarket store (Sainsbury's) to be built in the town centre as part of a six acre redevelopment of a mainly disused site which will also include shops, restaurants, over 100 homes and a 120 bed hotel.

Transport

London General's 213 operates a Sutton-Kingston service

Local bus services that stop at Sutton are operated by London General, Epsom Coaches (Quality Line), Abellio London and Metrobus. Routes 80, 151, 154, 164, 213, 280, 407, 413, 420, 470, S1, S3, S4, N44 and the X26 Express to Heathrow Airport all stop in Sutton, as well as two school routes which are 613, operated by Transdev London and 627 operated by Arriva London. A list of all Sutton bus routes and their destinations are listed below.

• 80 (Belmont Prisons - Hackbridge Reynolds Close) - London General - Sutton Garage
• 151 (Worcester Park Station - Wallington Shotfield) - London General - Sutton Garage
• 154 (Morden Tube Station - West Croydon Bus Station) - London General - Sutton Garage
• 164 (Wimbledon Station - Sutton Station) - London General - Merton Garage
• 213 (Kingston Fairfield Road Bus Station - Sutton Bus Garage) - London General - Sutton Garage
• 280 (Tooting St. Georges Hospital - Belmont Station) - London General - Merton Garage
• 407 (Sutton Marshalls Road - Caterham Station) - Abellio London - Beddington Cross Garage
• 413 (Morden Tube Station - Sutton Bus Garage) - London General - Sutton Garage
• 420 (Sutton Bus Station - Redhill Bus Station) - Metrobus Surrey - Crawley Garage
• 470 (Epsom Town Centre - Colliers Wood Tube Station) - Quality Line - Epsom Garage
• 613 (Glenthorne School - Worcester Park Station) - Transdev London - Tolworth Garage
• 627 (Worcester Park Station - Wallington High School for Girls Arriva London - Croydon Garage
• S1 (Mitcham Cricketers - Banstead Marks & Spencer) - Quality Line - Epsom Garage
• S3 (Malden Manor Station - Sutton Hospital) - Quality Line - Epsom Garage
• S4 (St. Helier Station & Hospital - Roundshaw Neighbourhood Centre) - Quality Line - Epsom Garage
• N44 (Sutton Station - Aldwych) - London General - Stockwell Garage
• X26 Express (Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station - West Croydon Lunar House) - Metrobus London - Croydon Garage

Sutton also was provided with another night bus service the N213 which ran between Kingston and West Croydon but was scrapped on the 9th July 2009 in favour of making the 213 a 24 hour service which means people have no way of travelling between Sutton and Croydon at night any more. TFL claim this section of the route was only lightly used. Since this route has been cancelled Carshalton and Wallington have been left without any night service at all.

Within the town of Sutton, there are three railway stations. Sutton station is the town's major station, where frequent trains to London Victoria and London Bridge run, as well as services to Horsham, Dorking, Epsom Downs, Wimbledon, and Luton. West Sutton and Sutton Common are both on the First Capital Connect lines to Wimbledon.

Sutton is now since serviced by a hourly 24 hour coach service the A3 which runs from Victoria Coach Station to Gatwick Airport

Sutton also has a taxi rank, which can be picked up from outside the station. The taxis queue along Lower Mulgrave Road.

Media

The episode The Return of Mr Bean was filmed at department store Allders on its previous site, which is now occupied by Waterstones book shop and others. Furthermore, episodes of The Bill television programme have often been filmed in Sutton (including recently the Durand Close council estate in Carshalton, now in process of demolition), and nearby Merton. Additionally, the Channel 4 TV show The Games training is filmed at Sutton Arena. The town's football club, Sutton United F.C. have also appeared regularly on adverts from energy drink manufacturers, Lucozade.

The sitcom "Phoneshop" which began in October 2010 and broadcast on E4 is filmed on Sutton High Street. It is based around a fictional phone shop which has had two different locations on the High Street.

A TV commercial for the dating website "match.com", which was first broadcast in August 2011 was filmed at Sutton Railway Station. The 60-second advert features an encounter between a young man and woman who are standing on opposite platforms while he sings to her.

Sport

The Gander Green Lane ground, home of Sutton United Football Club

Association football club Sutton United F.C. play in the Blue Square South league at Step 6 of the Football system, and famously beat Coventry City 2-1 in the FA Cup in 1989, who were then in Division 1 and winners of the contest two seasons previous.

Sutton Cricket Club is based in Cheam Road, Sutton, (entrance in Gander Green Lane.) The Club’s 1st XI plays at the highest level of the sport available to it, the England & Wales Cricket Board’s, ‘Surrey Championship Premier Division,’ (winners in 2009.) The club’s 2nd and 3rd teams also play at the highest level available to them, the, ‘Surrey Championship 2nd XI and 3rd XI Premier Divisions,’ (2nd XI also league winners in 2009.) Sutton Cricket Club also provide league cricket for 4th and 5th XIs on Saturdays and for three XI’s on Sundays, two of which are dedicated to youth development. The club has a colts section with over 150 participants, and owns a second ground in Holmwood Close, Cheam. A cricket week is held at the Cheam Road ground every season, in addition to the club playing at least one mid-week friendly fixture every week.

Sutton Pumas basketball club are based in the Westcroft Leisure Centre, Carshalton.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Charles J. Marshall (1971). History of Cheam & Sutton. S.R. Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85409-649-3.
• Robert P. Smith (1970). A History of Sutton AD 675–1960. Published by Derek W. James, no ISBN.
• Martin Andrew (2001). Around Sutton. Frith Book Company Ltd. ISBN 1-85937-337-2.
• Sutton Guardian: Our Town: History Retrieved 2005-10-12.
• London Borough of Sutton, Heritage Retrieved 2005-11-16.

External links

• Sutton, London - history and old photographs
• Sutton Town Centre Partnership working to improve Sutton.